Bonchon Schaumburg — Restaurant in Schaumburg Township

Had a craving for their spicy drumsticks, me and my mom live in Rockford and we made the hourlong drive costing us about $15 in gas and tolls for the round trip. My mom doesn't like dark meat, so she wanted boneless, and opted for KBBQ.

After walking in and placing the order at the counter, we sat and waited. The gentleman was very nice at first. We got our food and checked it in the car. Something was obviously off. We weren't sure, but the boneless KBBQ was so spicy smelling that it flared both of our nostrils, while the spicy drumsticks didn't at all look, smell, or taste as I was expecting. Every time I've gotten them, they're red and glossy, almost like a gummy worm. These were very matte and dark brown. We assumed maybe the sauces got mixed up, but neither of these were anything we'd ever had before (I'd had the spicy drumsticks 3 times to this point, and this was my mom's 2nd time having the KBBQ boneless). We immediately brought it back in.

Assuming this was a mistake, we tried our hardest to be patient and charitable with the gentleman. He didn't seem very apologetic or concerned, he just immediately asked to see the chicken. Without hesitation he just went "oh no that's right. Those are correct."

We really tried our hardest to explain, okay bro, we got it, you're saying these are correct. We're not mad, we're just saying that this isn't what we thought we were ordering.

It didn't matter though. He just kept repeating "this is spicy, I saw them mix the spicy, it's spicy, this here is spicy, I don't know what else to tell you." He probably reiterated "this is spicy" about 12 times before we gave up.

Not once did the gentleman ever once even consider trying to make things right with us, his only goal was to argue with us. Maybe the worst customer service we've ever gotten; what restaurant immediately jumps to arguing with customers and accusing them of lying? It's strange to me that someone on the clock would rather stand there and try to fight with people like an elementary school aged boy instead of just trying to make things right the way a normal, well-adjusted adult would.

If the sauces we were served actually were correct, then it's clear BonChon Schaumburg has owners that like experimenting with new flavors and messing with sauce recipes without telling their customers, going so far as to argue with them instead. My recommendation is that if you find something you like here, don't be surprised if you no longer like it when you go back again in the future.

(Edit: it turns out that BonChon Schaumburg has had dozens of complaints of sauces tasting different without warning. Some have said that employees have admitted to some customers that the sauce recipes do change sometimes. So I guess this wasn’t all in my head somehow.)

This experience is exactly why so many smaller chains come in and out of the suburbs so often. Oftentimes, suburban outlet malls filled with chains are run by some of the greediest franchisees you'll ever meet. This just reeks exactly of that. Don't be surprised if this place is gone 2 years from now, just like 80% of all other smaller chains in the west suburbs; the type of greedy people to own a small franchise like this have no problem abandoning ship and laughing all the way to the bank at the smallest sign of losing money, with the employees who made them rich usually taking the brunt of it all. Best to just stay away from places like this, plenty of better local...

Great experience there. Came here off of a recommendation from my little cousins, who are obsessed with this place. I'll have to say that's some of the best Korean Fried Chicken I can possibly get in the midwest. We didn't know which one to get so we tried the spicy and the soy sauce one. The spicy one is definitely much better. It gives a nice kick with each bite along with as you've seen from other ppl's reviews the perfect CRUNCH!!! The soy sauce one is way too salty. It may work well with just plain white rice and some white radish kimchi, but not feeling that one.

The Bulgogi tacos were a nice blend of Asian fusion mixing Korean beef put into a Mexican style soft-shell taco. It was alright. The sauce was a little excessive that I couldn't really appreciate the flavors of the meat in the taco, but it was still pretty good.

My friends ordered the Bibimbop which was nice, since they put it in a stone bowl, which can help make some of the rice get that crispy crunchiness. It's nice bc there is a vegetarian option for those that do not eat meat in a Fried Chicken joint! :)

OMG the Parmesan Cheese Fries were amazing!!! foodgasmic experience with each bite. This restaurant has a unique way of making sure their food retains it's crispy crunchiness. Big fan of that.

The Spicy chicken 닭갈비 was way too American in tastes, which in the USA makes sense. Overly saucy and white meat chicken, seriously? If that's dark meat, it doesn't have the nice plump juiciness that dark meat chicken should have. Plus it doesn't really come with any lettuce wraps or Perilla leaves, just a bowl of rice. It's alright for American tastes, but at least they made it spicy.

I will be coming back again, but only sparingly. It is on the pricier end, but it is in a Chicago Suburbs, you're gonna have to pay money to get food like this. The service was adequate, I wouldn't say extraordinary or superb, but not terrible or anything. I don't think they deserve the amount that the receipt suggests for a tip, but first time, I guess I'll be nice. It's not like the workers tried to be rude or anything, there just wasn't the American-style friendly service that I'd expect in a restaurant. They were just there to do their job. Thanks again, and will be coming back again for those spicy wings...

Tried some of this food from my roommate once Love the chicken so I decide to go get some for myself. We got the bulgogi and 10 chicken wings soy garlic and spicy the half and half. Unfortunately it looked like they were closing and it must have been about 5:30 6:00 so we were a little confused but we were getting nurse to go anyway. Turns out that for some odd reason their heater broke and it was way too cold for them to serve people on the inside for sit down eating. That is truly not their fault whatsoever but still one reason why they didn't get a five. They did act quick and had some people running about seven heaters to start warming the place up so that the cooks and the employees did not freeze, that was a good call. Unfortunately it was just too cold that day as the temperatures outside felt like negative 10° so I'm sure it just felt like 2° on the inside to them. I hope they stayed warm and I hope they get it fixed.... but Jesus that chicken and that bulgogi was SO good I think I'm hooked now. No I don't like spicy that much but this was the perfect level of spicy no more needed to be added to it although the soy garlic could have used more flavor more garlic I believe it did have the perfect amount of soy on it though but the garlic could have been a little heavier other than that that chicken was the bomb and that bulgogi was kicking. One thing I have to note is that seeing the portions of what you get on the inside does not reflect the portions that you get when you take home. The inside portions were huge for the price and that was warranted but the take-home the to-go containers those were small when it came to the bulgogi and rice. Not enough rice not enough bulgogi for that price The chicken...